


Somewhere in Brooklyn

by JLaLa



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Complete, F/M, Fluff, Hip hop music references, Odesta, One-Shot, Slightly based off a Bruno Mars song, Song fic, everlark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28683051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JLaLa/pseuds/JLaLa
Summary: Peeta Mellark meets the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get her name—just her train stop. Loosely based on the Bruno Mars song of the same name.
Relationships: Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair, Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 60





	Somewhere in Brooklyn

Somewhere in Brooklyn

_Canal Street Station, Manhattan_

It was freezing the first time Peeta saw her.

He had just come off a long shift as a courier, his hands in the pockets of his bomber jacket to shield his ungloved hands from the frostiness of the evening. Friday nights were the hardest for him, his legs ached on that last day of the week from the furious bike riding around the city.

All he wanted to do was get to his apartment and pass out. However, it seemed everyone shared that same sentiment as Friday came around—the station was packed. People trickled in through every entrance and he held himself steady since he was in the front of the line.

Taking the earbuds from his jeans pocket, Peeta pushed them into his ears, ready to lose himself in the music as he awaited his train.

Then, he saw her—his dream girl.

She stood a few feet away to his left in a pair of red Nike high-tops and clad in a pair of tight leather pants. She turned to look in his direction as the train roared into the station, her long inky hair moving with her as her smoky eyes wandered around the crowd. Under her suede coat, Peeta could see a gold lamè halter top peeking out.

“HEY! MOVE IT!”

The angry shout came from behind and Peeta rushed into the train car, losing the girl in the crowd.

++++++

The crowd had thinned as the train reached the last stop in Manhattan.

Tiredly, Peeta pulled off his earbuds leaning his head against a pole in the middle of the train. The passengers were all packed into the train car, but at least there was some room for him to breathe.

Suddenly, someone pushed into his back and he turned, irritated—only to meet the apologetic eyes of his dream girl.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” she said to him as she nodded over at the chunky man behind her. “Mister over here doesn’t understand when someone says, ‘Excuse me’. “

The man in question turned to her and glared.

“You’re damn right I’m talking about you! RUDE ASS!” The girl turned back to look at Peeta, a smile suddenly gracing her lips as she glanced down quickly at his hands. “I like your earbuds.”

She had beautiful eyes, almond-shaped and full of depth—the greyness of them uncommon. Her smile was full, open, and peached.

He pulled out of his daze to respond, “What?”

“Your earbuds,” the beauty in front of him replied. Reaching for his fist, her warm hand opened it to reveal the earbuds. “Beats by Dre, right?” He nodded. “I have a pair too, but I left them at home.”

Peeta couldn’t help but stare as she spoke melodiously.

Finally, he found his voice, “So, what do you listen to?”

She tilted her head to gaze into his eyes, before reaching into the pocket of her suede jacket, the gold of her top moving with her. Taking the jack of his earbuds, she plugged it into her phone and held it out to him.

Putting the bud in his ear, Peeta listened for a moment, moving his head to the rhythm of the music.

“You don’t seem like a hip-hop fan,” he remarked, his eyes meeting hers.

She grinned, his other earbud in her ear.

“I have an eclectic taste,” the girl replied. “I just happen to like nineties hip-hop, in particular.” She nodded her head on beat as she sang along to the song, _“Oh, I need to know…where we stand…do we share this special thing called love?”_

“You have a great voice,” Peeta told her and she smiled in appreciation, their eyes meeting as his heart pounded out of his chest.

There was the sudden ding of the stop announcement, _“High Street, Brooklyn Station.”_

The door opened in front of them, blowing in frosty air.

Suddenly, a woman with cropped, black hair was yanking the girl by the wrist and pulling her towards the car exit.

“WE’RE LATE!” she yelled as she yanked his dream girl away.

“WAIT!”

He didn’t even ask for her name!

The girl turned, flashing Peeta one last smile.

The door shut quickly in front of him.

++++++

“It was like she came out of nowhere!” Peeta told Finnick, his roommate. “And before I could get her name, she was gone!”

“Maybe it was just fate to let her go,” Finnick replied as he buttoned up his blazer. “You can’t always depend on destiny, Peeta. Sometimes, you have to create your own love story. Take me, for example.” The man gave his friend a cocky grin. “You think I just waited for Annie to come to me?”

“I think you actually begged her to come to you,” Peeta pointed out with a smirk.

“Semantics. The point is that I didn’t hesitate to let my intentions be known,” his roommate argued. “You hesitated and it didn’t work—so, just let it go.”

Peeta sighed as Finnick joined him on their old couch.

“Did you want to come out with me to Annie’s show? I think she mentioned that there was someone she wanted you to meet—“

“No, thanks,” Peeta interrupted. “I think I’m just going to spend the weekend trying to forget her.”

++++++

But Peeta couldn’t.

That’s how he found himself circling the block around High Street Station that next day—a sketch of the girl in his hand. Trying to sleep had been a bitch because every time he closed his eyes, she was there smiling behind his eyelids.

So, he got up from bed and took out his charcoal pencils from art school to sketch her picture, her grey eyes the first thing finding their way onto the parchment.

When morning came, Peeta was throwing on a leather jacket and heading towards the Brooklyn exit that she had left from.

He was greeted at each store that he inquired in with skeptical and sometimes annoyed looks. The last man that Peeta showed his sketch laughed at him and then told him to get lost before he called the cops.

At noon, his phone rang, and he saw Finnick’s bright grin on the screen of his phone.

Sitting on a nearby bench, Peeta picked his phone, “Hey dude.”

“Where have you been?” His roommate asked. “I just got back from Annie’s and you weren’t home! Oh man, last night was AMAZING! Everyone loved her set and there was this girl—“

“—I don’t want to hear it, Finnick!” Peeta unrolled the parchment to look at the girl’s smiling face. “I’m done with you trying to hook me up.”

“Alright,” his friend relented. “Will you at least come with us to the club to celebrate?”

The sound of laughter came from around the corner and Peeta quickly rolled back the paper.

Turning, he met the eyes of a group of guys, one of them peering at him quizzically.

“Peeta?”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll come—as long as you or Annie don’t bother me with your matchmaking schemes,” he warned.

“Fine. Just get home already, my girl is cooking breakfast!” Finnick yelled into the phone before hanging up.

Standing up, he tucked the paper under his arm and began his walk to the station.

++++++

The girl in the sketch looked like his cousin, especially her eyes. As the guy turned to look at the noise his friends were making—their eyes met, and he was shocked at the intensity in them.

Bright blue eyes, she had told him.

They were the one thing that she couldn’t get out of her head—

“Yo, Gale!” Marvel, his friend, called out in concern. “You okay, bro?”

He shook himself out of the daze and gave his friend a smile as they walked.

“Yeah, I just thought I recognized someone.”

++++++

The second time, it was hot.

The bass of the music coming from the speakers in the club vibrated through his body as Peeta sat nursing his drink. Annie and Finnick were out on the floor grinding to Missy Elliot’s ‘Hot Boyz’, the DJ was playing some sort of late 90’s hip hop mix, which the couple was apparently really into.

Around him, men stood by the bar as they hollered at any beautiful woman that happened to pass their way. The girls in the booth next to him were toasting someone’s twenty-first birthday.

“Where is she?” One of the girls screamed drunkenly over the music as she tossed her blonde hair. “We’re supposed to be making a toast to ME!”

“Calm down, Madge!” someone yelled back. “She’s probably on the floor dancing! Plus, twenty-one is nothing to her seeing as she’s the first one to get to drinking age!”

He chuckled at their conversation as it drifted back to the birthday girl’s slurred birthday speech and how she was going to fuck her boyfriend until he couldn’t move.

“Oh, I’m sure that Gale is going to love that!” one of the girls responded.

The song suddenly switched up and everyone in the club screamed out in delight as an Aaliyah’s dulcet voice sang out:

_“You’re hotter than  
A summer day in California  
You got me meltin’ like  
A sundae, now I want ya…”_

Peeta looked up—and there she was, looking right at him.

The girl met his eyes, winking as she did, and her wavy hair bounced on her shoulder as she moved with the music.

Standing up, Peeta removed his jacket as he readied himself to go to her—

“PEETA!” He whipped around quickly as Finnick put a hand on his shoulder. “Do you want a drink?”

Turning, Peeta looked to the floor—she was gone. “DAMNIT! She was right there!”

Finnick’s eyes went to the direction of the crowded dance floor, before turning to his friend. “Who?”

“HER! The girl on the train!”

His friend pushed him towards the encased bodies on the floor. “Find her then!”

Peeta moved into crowd, his eyes searching for grey eyes and a gorgeous smile. He felt claustrophobic being surrounded by the dancers, the floor sticking with alcohol as people stepped on his shoes.

Pushing through until he was in the middle, Peeta looked around to find that she had disappeared—again.

God, he was getting delusional.

The heat was encompassing and so he made his way towards the back of the club where the restrooms were. In the corridor leading to them, he took a deep breath as the sound of the song faded from his ears.

Suddenly, he was pulled into a lone corner and the girl was right in front him, her grey eyes sensuous and her lips perked in teasing grin.

“I’ve been looking all over for you!” Peeta told her. “What’s your na—“

He was cut off by her lips crashing onto his. His mind was suddenly numb to everything but the taste of her tongue as it caressed his own, and his arms were pulling her tightly against him, her own arms wrapping around his neck to deepen their kiss.

Her body melted onto his as she grinded her pelvis against him, pressing harder against his now throbbing cock.

“LET’S GO—“

Someone was pulling her away—this time, a man in a hooded sweater with cornrowed hair.

He had no time to react before his dream girl was taken from his grasp once more.

Peeta followed them out of the hallway. “WAIT! What’s your name?”

She turned to look at him as she was yanked towards the exit, her lips mouthing her name to him.

Peeta was suddenly engulfed in the crowd.

He had lost her again.

++++++

“I’m sorry, man,” Finnick said as they sat on the roof of their building. He handed his roommate the blunt that he was smoking. “Fate is a bitch. But at least you got a taste of her—that’s more than a lot of people get in a lifetime.”

“I felt like I was on fire when I was with her,” Peeta replied as he took a puff before handing the joint back to his friend. Looking up at the clear sky, he took in a breath as the remembrance of their kiss filled him again. “Do you think that I’ll ever feel something like that again in my lifetime?”

Finnick coughed, smoke escaping his lips. “I don’t know. But you can’t give up.”

“I don’t know,” he said sadly. “I wonder if we’ll ever meet again.”

His friend gave him a buzzed grin. “What do you believe?”

Peeta smiled softly. “Even if it’s just for a minute—I hope we do.”

++++++

He accepted his fate—and time passed.

Peeta rode the train, his eyes no longer looking at his phone and his ears not covered. He spent time to look around the A train, but he never did see her.

He knew that she was out there, and if it were meant to happen, they would see each other again.

Friday came around.

He pressed his head against the pole tiredly.

The familiar ding announcing the upcoming exit came, _“High Street, Brooklyn Station.”_

His eyes snapped open—his body buzzing as the train slowed down.

Pushing through the bodies surrounding him, Peeta ran through the open train door and onto the platform.

Peeta could feel her—she was calling for him.

His feet guided him as he walked out of the station and onto the unfamiliar streets of Brooklyn Heights. He didn’t know what was going on, but Peeta could feel her pull.

The sound of music filled his ears and he looked up at the roof of an apartment building where a party was in full swing, the paper lantern decorations swaying in the breeze. Crossing the street, he rushed up the stairs and passed the partygoers sitting on the stairs.

Running up the stairs, he was breathless as he got to the floor where the stairs to the roof was.

Peeta stopped, worried of what he might find when a familiar voice suddenly began to sing:

_“I need love, love  
To ease my mind  
I need to find, find someone to call mine  
But Mama said…”_

Slowly, Peeta ascended the stairs and pushed open the door.

His eyes went to the stage—where he saw Annie, Finnick’s girlfriend, singing.

Someone nudged him and he turned to see Finnick grinning at him. “I guess you got my message!”

“What?” he asked confused.

“I texted you to come over to see Annie perform!” Finnick reached for the phone in Peeta’s hand and he frowned as he scrolled through his friend’s texts. “I guess it got lost during your trip.” He looked over at Peeta. “How did you know to come here?”

Peeta pointed to the stage. “It’s her.”

_“You can’t hurry love  
No, you just have to wait  
You got to trust, give it time  
No matter how long it takes….”_

Next to Annie was his girl—her lips to her mic as she sang along with Finnick’s girlfriend.

Another girl—the one who had pulled her off the train—stood on Annie’s other side. Behind them on the turntable, Peeta could see the boy with the corn-rowed hair, his ears to his headphones.

The girl met Peeta’s eyes and she smiled, waving at him.

Finnick snorted as he watched his love-struck friend, “I’ve been trying to hook you two up for weeks.”

Peeta looked over at him. “What?”

“The friend of Annie’s—her new back-up singer?” His friend pointed his hand at the stage. “That’s her.”

Peeta smacked his forehead as a laugh escaped his mouth. “You gotta be kidding me.”

His roommate threw an arm around him, a smirk on his lips, as they walked to the stage.

“I think it’s time for me to finally introduce you, Peeta Mellark, to your dream girl—and future wife, Katniss Everdeen”.

**FIN.**

_Music:_

_“Only You”—112 feat. Biggie and Mase_

_“Hot Like Fire”—Aaliyah feat. Timbaland_

_“You Can’t Hurry Love”-The Supremes_


End file.
